Voyager class on Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

In:
19 Mar 2014

Hey everyone! Episode 33 of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available for your listening pleasure.

This week, Matt talks about his favorite class of Royal Caribbean ships, the Voyager class.  Voyager class redefined what a cruise ship can offer guests onboard and has been the basis for new cruise ship classes ever since.  

Matt looks at why he likes this class so much,  the historical signifigance of the class and what the future holds for the five Voyager class ships.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 33. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSS or on iTunes!

Take a listen and as always, let us know what you think! Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes and leave your comments below!

Video: The nuts and bolts of building Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas

In:
18 Mar 2014

Here's a quick video looking at Royal Caribbean's newest ship, Quantum of the Seas, under construction at Meyer Werft Shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. A precise, efficient process ensures that Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas will be delivered on time and ready to WOW guests.

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas rescues 15 people at sea

In:
18 Mar 2014

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas rescued 15 people on a raft last week while in the Caribbean Sea.

According to passengers onboard, on Thursday the Captain announced that they had spotted a "crude raft" and would alter course to help. The incident occured while the ship was on its way to Cozumel from Jamaica.

The Captain reported those rescured were given clean clothes, showers and meals, and was in good health.

There was no word on where the rafters were from or their fate after being rescued.

Royal Caribbean Post Round-Up: March 16, 2014

In:
16 Mar 2014

Happy weekend Royal Caribbean fans!

The big Royal Caribbean news of the week occured yesterday when Royal Caribbean made big changes to its future cruise booking program.

Effective immediately, Royal Caribbean revised how much onboard credit guests can get by booking a specific cruise as well as an open booking onboard their Royal Caribbean cruise.

The new promotion largely benefits those booking cruises 8-nights or longer and those staying in a balcony stateroom or higher.  In addition, the open booking onboard credit amounts have been greatly reduced across the board.

Royal Caribbean News

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

Have you listened to the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast yet? Our newest episode came out this week and it's all about the most challenging aspects of planning a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Matt shares his biggest challenges and also shares challenges other Royal Caribbean Blog members ran into and tries to offer solutions to avoiding these problems or at least minimizing the issues.

Please feel free to subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and head over to rate and review the podcast on iTunes if you can! We’d appreciate it.

Join us for the first ever Royal Caribbean Blog Cruise!

We're so excited to announce the first ever group cruise for readers and staff of RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com aboard Quantum of the Seas!  This is an exclusive group where we are inviting you, our readers, to join us on one of the first Quantum of the Seas sailings on an 8-night cruise to the Caribbean.

This Royal Caribbean Blog group cruise is all about enjoying this brand new ship with other fans who are big fans of Royal Caribbean.  Don't miss this opportunity to check out the brand new cruise ship as well as be a part of exclusive events for those that book with our group!

For more details on booking the cruise, the itinerary and prices, check out the Royal Caribbean Blog group cruise page and if you have any questions, email me!

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

Advertising Age included Royal Caribbean in a list of 15 of Marketing's Most Memorable Experiential Moves.

Royal Caribbean has solutions to five travel conundrums like planning and shopping.

Metro looks at the looming "cruise war" between Anthem of the Seas and the Britannia.

Royal Caribbean makes big changes to future cruise booking program

In:
15 Mar 2014

Royal Caribbean's popular NextCruise program appears to have changed signifigantly in terms of the benefits, according to an updated document released by Royal Caribbean.

The NextCruise program allows guests onboard their cruises to book future Royal Caribbean cruises, either a specific cruise or an open booking.

Under the terms of the new program, the amount of onboard credit a guest receives has been adjusted depending on the length of their cruise and the category of stateroom they pick.

Here is a break down of how much onboard credit you wil receive when booking a specific future cruise onboard your cruise.

  • Cruises of 5-7 nights
    • ​Interior: $25
    • Oceanview: $50
    • Balcony: $100
    • Suite: $200
  • Cruise of 8-10 nights
    • ​Interior: $50
    • Oceanview: $100
    • Balcony: $150
    • Suite: $250
  • Cruise of 11-14 nights
    • ​Interior: $75
    • Oceanview: $150
    • Balcony: $200
    • Suite: $300
  • Cruise of 15 or more nights
    • ​Interior: $100
    • Oceanview: $200
    • Balcony: $250
    • Suite: $400

In addition, the NextCruise open booking program incentives have had their onboard credit amounts reduced, with the amount varying depending on the length of your cruise.

  • 5-7 night cruises: $25
  • 8-10 night cruises: $50
  • 11-14 night cruises: $75
  • 15 or more nights: $100

The changes appear to favor cruises of longer length as well as those in balcony or suite accomodations.

The changes appear to be in place now and effective going forward.  The new policy does not affect NextCruise bookings or open bookings previously made.

Royal Caribbean expands "kids sail free" promotion to include Grandeur of the Seas

In:
14 Mar 2014

Earlier this month, Royal Caribbean announced a very popular promotion offering third and fourth passengers on a Royal Caribbean cruise would sail free on select cruises between May and December 2014 but it excluded Quantum of the Seas and Grandeur of the Seas.  Until now.

Royal Caribbean has now expanded the offering to include the Baltimore-based cruises on Grandeur of the Seas.

The details of the deal remain the same: Royal Caribbean is giving free cruise fare to third and fourth passenger of any age sharing a cabin with two paying passengers on sailings departing from May 1 to December 15. Bookings must be made by March 31.

The deal is advertised as "kids sail free", but the reality is there is no age restriction on the offer so any third and fourth passenger

Friday Photos

In:
14 Mar 2014

Once more it is Friday and once more we are sharing lots of fun Royal Caribbean photos our readers have sent in to us.  Let's get started!

Our first photo this week comes from John Siegmund and it's of tour ships sailing the sunset in Key West, Florida back on February 20, 2014. Great shot!

I really love this photo from Lauren McCrillis of bon voyage cupcakes that she made before going on Liberty of the Seas.  Great idea and further proof funfetti makes everything better.

This beautiful photo of Voyager of the Seas' sports deck while on a 14-night cruise around New Zealand looks amazing.  The colors are so vivid and sunsets at sea are the best.

Alejandro sent us this photo of his souvenir scale models that he bought on his cruises.  In this picture there is Allure of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas, Serenade of the Seas & Brilliance of the Seas.

Kayla's photo of Jackson Square in New Orleans and she writes, "Jackson Square in New Orleans, where we got on the Voyager of the Seas for her Western Caribbean Itinerary. Fell in love with that city and cant wait to go back!"

The photo that wins the "Matt wishes he was most at right now" award goes to this photo of CocoCay by Michael Poole.  Looks perfect!

This week's photos were great but we want more of your Royal Caribbean photos, so please use this form to send us your favorite Royal Caribbean photos so we can share them on the blog!

Restaurant Review: Johnny Rockets on Navigator of the Seas

In:
13 Mar 2014

If you've been a reader of this blog for a while, you may know that my last trip to Johnny Rockets on Freedom of the Seas did not go so well.  So when my Navigator of the Seas cruise came around, I was quite content not stopping here if things didn't work out scheduling wise.

A few nights into the cruise, my wife and I were at the main dining room and I was enjoying my meal when I finished my entree and still felt a little hungry.  I then thought about what I wanted and for whatever reason, I started craving a burger.  

I mentioned this notion to my wife who also said she was in the mood for french fries.  So we decided to skip dessert (to the horror of our waiter) and took the elevator straight up to Johnny Rockets.  

I was hoping for a short wait and for the food here to finally redeem itself.

Atmosphere

Johnny Rockets across Royal Caribbean's fleet of cruise ships is pretty much the same look and feel.  Based on the restaurant chain on land, you'll find a vibe to the place, with lots of chrome and red leather.  

The seating is mostly booths, both inside the restaurant and outside.  It was still a little too breezy to eat outside so we opted to remain inside.  There are also stools at the bar that you can sit at, which if there is a wait, you can go right up to and seat yourself.

Johnny Rockets plays music from the 1950's and 1960's primarily and while there are jukeboxes at every booth to pick music from, none of the jukeboxes seemed to actually work.

As we walked into Johnny Rockets at around 9:30 or 10:00pm, there was no wait and just a few people eating.  We chose a booth inside and took a seat.

Eats

Everyone who eats at Johnny Rockets get a plate of french fries and onion rings along with dipping sauces.  You can get as much of this as you want.  Unlike other times, the fries and onion rings tasted freshly made.  No 99% breading, 1% onion in these rings.  And the fries did not taste like they had been under heat lamps all day.

For my wife, who was craving the fries, it hit the spot.  Even I enjoyed a few of these, especially the onion rings.

For our main courses, I wanted a burger but felt a little guilty having a burger after eating dinner so I decided I would order two items and just sample each.  That was the plan anyway.

I ordered the double burger and the chicken sandwich.  A couple of bites of both and I'd be satisfied.

To my delight, both sandwiches came out really, really good.  The burger meat was very moist and had a lot of flavor.  Without realizing it, I had polished off about three quarters of the burger before I decided my "sampling" was done.

The chicken sandwich was also really good and there was no tough, chewy parts of the chicken filet here.  Once more, I ate more of this than I had originally planned.

My wife went with the grilled cheese sandwich as she wanted something lighter than a burger to eat.

Grilled cheese is a pretty simple sandwich and my wife reported it tasted quite good.  The right amount of grilling without burning the bread and not too much cheese in the middle.

It was kind of a shock to me, but we walked away with a satisfying and really good meal at Johnny Rockets!

Overview

I was pleasantly surprised with my experience at Johnny Rockets on Navigator of the Seas.  Not only did it "hit the spot" for my craving, but it also restored my faith in Johnny Rockets on Royal Caribbean cruise ships being a good idea.

Perhaps the Johnny Rockets experience varies from ship to ship and maybe going in the evening improved our chances.  

I know what many of you are thinking, "Matt, how could you not have a milk shake?" and we were so full by the time we got our food that a milk shake was just too much.  And I never doubted the awesomeness of Johnny Rocket's milkshakes because even on my worst Johnny Rockets experiences, the milk shakes remained quite good.

I enjoyed my meal at Johnny Rockets and while I don't think it's somewhere I would go to have dinner, it is a great spot for lunch or late night snacking. Its hours of operation are much later than the main dining room or Windjammer.

Most challenging aspect of cruise planning on Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

In:
12 Mar 2014

We have a brand new Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast episode for everyone to enjoy today!

Episode 32 of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is available and this week we are looking at the most challenging aspects of planning a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Matt shares what he finds the most difficult aspect of planning a cruise and also reads what other Royal Caribbean Blog members thought their most difficult challenges were too.  Together, Matt offers advice and hints to overcome these obstacles.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 32.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSSStitcher or on iTunes!

Take a listen and as always, let us know what you think! Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes and leave your comments below!

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